Growing Faith

At Christ Church UM, we are part of the larger mission of the United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  We believe that we will discover a deeper life living as followers of Jesus; we become the people that God made us to be, we better understand that we are loved by God and called to love other people in the same way.  We come to know that in God’s eyes we are not defined by a broken past, but by a grace filled future!   At Christ Church, we “make disciples” and show that there is more to life by Introducing Jesus, Growing Faith, Relieving Suffering, and Shaping Children.  For four weeks, my articles will focus on one of these elements of our vision, continuing today with Growing Faith.

Growing Faith is always about what God does in us...but we have a part to play, too.....

I am a runner.  This time every year, I go out into the heat and humidity before sunrise almost every morning to start getting ready for a marathon that I will be running later in the Fall.  Last year I ran the Philadelphia Marathon, this year, I will be running in New York.  I mention this because I long ago learned that success on race day doesn’t happen on just race day:  it will be determined by decisions I make on countless mornings, sleepily guzzling down that last sip of coffee, lacing up the running shoes and heading out the door.  It will happen on hill repeats and speed workouts that will only be seen by passing cars wondering why that “crazy person” is running up and down the bridge or around the block over and over and over.    The decision to succeed is made in the daily ritual of the first step, then the second...until the morning aches and pains have worked themselves out and you settle into a pace. 

All of this is working towards that goal of finishing the race strong.  I have known many people who have run such races without adequate training.   Some drop out short of the finish line, others may finish but are so beat up by the race that there is little room for joy or fulfillment (One of my goals is that I want to finish smiling-maybe not in the middle of a hard last sprint, but at least once I have crossed the line and caught my breath).  That daily ritual of running, of training, is vital to running a strong race and it is essential to growing as a runner! 

So, it is with a life of following Jesus, as well.  The New Testament writer Paul once wrote:

Don’t you know that all the runners in the stadium run, but only one gets the prize?  So run to win.  Everyone who competes practices self-discipline in everything.  The runners do this to get a crown of leaves that shrivel up and die, but we do it to receive a crown that never dies.  So now this is how I run-not without a clear goal in sight.  (I Corinthians 9:24-26a, Common English Bible)

His words are a reminder to me that living out faith, growing in love of God and neighbor, will take the same amount of discipline and intentionality as an athlete training for a marathon, just for a different sort of prize.  This is how we grow faith.

Still, it doesn’t just happen!  We participate with God in our ongoing salvation!  As we give ourselves to prayer, worship, study, daily devotion, service, and small group community we make room for God’s Spirit to shape us in the image and likeness of Jesus; and this is our goal.  These are time-tested practices that will help us to grow in faith and love.  We just have to be intentional about them.  It is like practicing or training for a sporting event:  we will get out of it what we put into it.  If we want to grow, we have to be intentional.

The early Christians used a word to describe the way of following Jesus, askesis.  It was a Greek word that meant “Practice” or “training”.  Outside of faith askesis was the word used for athletes in training.  Those early Christians recognized the intentionality required for athletics and applied it to disicpleship.  As followers of Jesus we are asked to train to live and love like Jesus.  As the Church today, we are communities of askesis. Our calling is to train builders of the Kingdom, to equip people to grow in faith, to serve with the heart of Jesus, and to lead with His vision. 

The race that we as students of Jesus run is to spend our days on this earth building the Kingdom of God and growing in love of God and neighbor.  Are you being intentional in your training?

You are the hands and feet of Christ,

Brett